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Reminder: If your email program cuts off the bottom of this email, click “View this email in your browser” up top to see the whole thing. Sorry about that – email programs keep changing stuff.
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CRUSHING shallow-water walleye on a NEW bait!
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Well that escalated quickly…. 😳 Was able to get my hands on the NEW (coming soon-ish) Rapala Jigging Shadow Rap and proceeded to have maybe the best afternoon walleye sesh I have ever had in the Brainerd (MN) Lakes Area.
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That Rapala Jigging Shadow Rap is already out in Canada. Sounds like it will be available in the US around 12/1 this year – maybe earlier. Description from Rapala:
> “Following in the footsteps of the legend, yet lighter than the original Rapala Jigging Rap, the Jigging Shadow Rap features a slower darting action. Designed for vertical jigging, the broader silhouette, modern internal metallic finishes and belly-flashing action are ideal for targeting large wary fish, whether they are suspended or close to the bottom.”
Few more quick details:
> Same length as a #9 Jigging Rap at 3.5″ (9cm), but weighs 3/5 oz like a #7.
> No nose hook, an oversized tail hook, and that #6 treble hook on the belly is connected with 2 split-rings for better movement = helps keep fish pinned.
> It’s actually a plastic bait (no lead) and has a slower, smoother gliding action.
One thing I noticed right away was I had a lot of fish (compared to a J-Rap) actually eating the bait while it was on the drop. Had some pinning it to bottom like they love to do with Jigging Raps, but there was definitely something special about the way it hangs in the water column – even with mono I could feel fish “bonking” it while it was still a few feet off bottom.
I was using the “live perch” color which literally could not look better. Imo it can do a great job of mimicking perch or shiners thx to that shimmery belly flash.
I don’t know for fact what all color options will be available here in the States, but here’s a quick glance at the ones I was able to scrape up:
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No matter brand or model, all of these baits look similar, but each has its own time and place where it reeeeally shines.
I think the Rapala Jigging Shadow Rap is going to be a killer addition to the arsenal in spring and fall when you have cooler water temps and shallower fish – specifically in clear-water lakes because the bait is all visual.
Tho I could also see it being a thing in mid-summer if you’ve got cold-front, funky fish that aren’t willing to commit to super fast baits flying past their face.
Of course I’ll also be playing with it thru the ice….
Will keep you posted on when it becomes available in the US. 👊
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“Didn’t realize my shoes were being covered in eggs at the time….”
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– That’s Cheyenne DaSilva talking about this egg-wagon she caught during walleye opener on the Winnipeg River – look closely: |
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Better yet, here’s the moment she did realize she was being doused in gold LOL:
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Can’t make that stuff up! 🤣 Congrats on the catch but sorry about your kicks lol.
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If you’ve never heard of Predatortour, it’s a “catch-photo-release” European derby where teams chase 3 species of predator fish including the walleye-like zander. Think of zander as the muscle-bound European cousin of walleye that grow to stupid dumb big sizes across the pond.
Enter Johannes Gasser who just stuck the biggest zander in Predatortour history. 👀 A huuuuge 99cm (just under 39″) zander he caught while slinging a “real perch” color KØFI Perch Shad on a baitcaster, which makes it even cooler lol. 🤯 Check it:
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A walleye that big is almost impossible to even comprehend…but I’d sure love to catch it! Probably would want to beef-up my gear tho. Former MN Vikings D-end Brian Robison looks like he’s ready for the roadtrip: |
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This planer board flag is legendary!
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Was sent this from TW reader Jim Carey and HAD to share. He and his daughter, Katy, went out for a (s)troll on Memorial Day and “celebrated our military members who gave us this freedom with their lives! God bless America!!!”
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Too cool. And big thx for sending it in, Jim!
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Did you know a TX lake was stocked with 8 MILLION walleyes in the ’70s?
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Had to do some digging’ on “The Lone Star State” because, well, where else are you going to learn these random factoids?! Lol. Apparently White Rock Lake in Dallas, TX was stuffed full of 8 mil ‘eyes back in the day…and locals were wondering where they all went, and why they dumped in so many in the first place:
> “For all other years from 1968 to 2017, the number of fish stocked into the lake doesn’t come close to that 2-yr total. Reportedly, not a single walleye was fished out of the lake in the years since millions of them were dumped into the reservoir….”
Info from here:
> 1st, the department wanted to increase the odds of establishing the species in the reservoir, so bumping up the number would help accomplish that.
> 2nd – and of more importance to the department – was the goal of controlling the number of yellow bass in the lake by introducing another predator fish. …the lake contained over 3,000 yellow bass per acre. The species was competing with gamefish, such as largemouth and hybrid-striped bass, for food and shelter.
One theory says that those same yellow bass they were trying to get rid of, are actually the ones to blame for eating all of the walleye fry!
> “So predation by yellow bass and largemouth bass, coupled with normal survival and the warmer temperatures, likely prevented the development of the walleye fishery in White Rock Reservoir.”
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Sounds like Lake Meredith is another TX lake that actually has a solid population of walleye, and according to the interwebz “6- to 8-lbers are common at times.” 👀
Same lake where Hank McWilliams Jr. caught the Feb 26, 1990 state record from to the tune of 11.88 lbs (31.75″).
There was still quite a bit of walleye stocking going on in TX up until recently – looks like they stopped stocking ’em in 2020:
> ’19: 1.71 mil fry stocked in Greenbelt, Meredith, Wheeler Branch and White River Rez.
> ’18: 2.75 mil fry stocked in Greenbelt, Meredith and Wheeler Branch Reservoir.
> ’17: 5.11 mil fry stocked in Greenbelt, Meredith and Wheeler Branch Reservoir.
> ’16: 3.24 mil fry stocked in Fryer, Meredith and Wheeler Branch Reservoir.
> ’15: 1.33 mil fry stocked in Palo Duro Reservoir, Theo at Caprock Canyon, Wheeler Branch and White Reservoir.
These are the kind of random things that I think about late at night instead of sleeping like a normal human. Gotta think there’d be a few giants lurking down south if any of those millions of critters survived.
You know somewhere out there, there’s some tight-lipped snowbirds keeping the bite to themselves hahaha!
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1. WI: The next NWT event is happening Jun 9-10.
On the Mississippi River outta Prairie du Chien.
Believe the last time they were there was June 2017, and Mark Courts won it with a 2-day total (10 fish) of 41.97 lbs.
The water was slowly rising, which helped to position the fish in more predictable places…and man did pro Mark Courts ever predict ’em, catching all of his fish on a single spot.
Mark said it was a short, but deeper, wingdam with 10-11′ on the front side tapering down to an island. He focused on the base of the dam which had rocks and sand:
> “I positioned about 50′ upstream with my Minn Kota Ultrex. Every fish came from that wing dam. I never moved more than 40′ side to side. It wasn’t a difficult decision to stay because I kept catching the right fish.
> “Typically, you get bit right at the face of the dam. …[We] couldn’t keep it there long because there was so much grass floating down. We were constantly cleaning our baits. There was a big flat behind the wing dam. The walleyes rest behind it and then slide up to eat.”
Said 3 of his fish came on a bassin’ crankbait = a Berkley Dredger 10.5 in the “rootbeer splatter back” color, which looks like this:
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Bass-style crankbaits because they dive down deep FAST. Allows him to follow the face of the wingdam down to catch those fish.
The rest came on smaller willowcats – aka “walleye candy” – fished with a 1/2-oz egg sinker, 1′ leader and a #2 Fusion19 Octopus Hook.
Earned it man! 👊 Do your thing at the next one.
2. NWT: Here’s the current top-10 in AOY points.
After the first 2 stops:
1. Corey Heiser – 360 points
2. Kevin McQuoid – 346 points
3. Matt Reber – 343 points
4. Keith Kavajecz – 341 points
5. Brian Bjorkman – 338 points
6. Dusty Minke – 338 points
7. Korey Sprengel – 337 points
8. Benjamin Teets – 336 points
9. Scott Mathson – 332 points
10. Sammy Capppelli – 329 points
3. WY: Yellow perch illegally stocked into Saratoga Lake.
> …has forced WY Game and Fish to make a hard decision…kill all of the fish and rebuild the lake.
> The fish kill, using rotenone, is scheduled for Sept. The drastic measure is being taken to protect trout habitat downstream in the North Platte River system where they could destroy trout habitat. A public meeting is scheduled next week to discuss the operation.
Also said their presence poses a threat to walleye downstream in Seminole. Couldn’t find anything that talked about what threats they would pose to wallies, would just be curious to know.
4. Believe there’s a few spots left…
…in the National High School Walleye Championship happening Jun 5 on Mille Lacs. Presented by the Student Angler Tournament Trail. They just updated their prize list and it’s stacked. Should be a ton of fish caught [!!!] but love that Mac’s Twin Bay even included a $500 scholarship for the ‘Lowest Weight Team.’
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“If you were spotting and stalking whitetails, and glassed every inch of a field or valley without seeing anything, would you still sneak out there on your hands and knees just because it looks so good?”
– Still one of my favorite-ever quotes from Scott Glorvigan, who’s talking about trusting your electronics and not fishing memories (spots you’ve done well on in the past) if you go through ’em without graphing any fish.
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And yes, I’m extremely guilty of this far too often. 🤦♂️ Working on it.
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No doubt with a last name like Thorne, you’re expected to be able to catch ’em, and catch ’em Paul Thorne can! He recently cracked this lengthy Cass Lake waldo pitching around a jig + minnow on one of his sick Elliott sticks. Love it, man! |
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Friends of Target Walleye
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Who is Target Walleye
Target Walleye – walleye during open water and all species during hardwater – is brought to you by Al Lindner, Jim Kalkofen, Jay Kumar, Brett McComas and other diehard fish-heads like you!
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Brett McComas is the main man for Target Walleye He was discovered in Brainerd, MN after years of wondering how in the heck people break into the fishing biz. He’s in it now, but still can’t answer that question…. Brett is one of those guys who majored in marketing, only because there was no such thing as a “fishing degree” at the time…. Get him at brett@targetwalleye.com
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